Chicago Cubs Linked to Interesting Veteran Reliever

The Chicago Cubs could be an ideal landing spot for this Oakland Athletics closer.

Jun 5, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher T.J. McFarland (48) delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the Chicago Cubs being in last place in the NL Central, they are still in contention for a Wild Card spot.

If they hope to turn their season around, the bullpen must be addressed ahead of the MLB trade deadline.

The Chicago bullpen ranks 25th in the league for ERA with 4.53. They give up a lot of home runs and walk a lot of batters, that's simply not a recipe for success.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic linked them to an intriguing veteran reliever that could be both cheap and offer some major experience.

Oakland Athletics reliever T.J. McFarland has bounced back from a couple of very poor seasons and looks to be his vintage self once again.

In 37 appearances this year, he has a 3.38 ERA and 1.193 WHIP. He's dropped his home run and walk rate, giving the Cubs a better option for both of those categories. Just two relievers on the roster with at least 10 innings pitched have a lower ERA.

The southpaw works with an uniquely slow pitch mix that has performed in his favor. None of his pitches reach the 90s. He throws a sinker, slider and changeup combo.

His sinker has the third-most vertical movement in the league, making it extremely hard to hit. His changeup has even more vertical movement and comes in second in the league.

The crazy movement gets a lot of hitters to chase, which leads to poor contact. He doesn't work well as a big strikeout guy, but is one of the best at forcing weak contact ground balls.

It's not a fluke either, as the stats suggest that his ERA should be even lower. He has a 2.03 xERA and .206 xBA. Batters are slashing just .257/.305/.339 against him this season.

The 35-year-old is on a one-year, $850k contract, meaning that he would just be a rental. A cheaper option like this plays into Chicago's favor as if the season still goes to the worst case-scenario, you didn't give up too much in trying to save it.

He wouldn't be in play for solving the closer situation, but does offer a nice middle-relief option or someone to bring in if you need a ground ball.

He'll regularly just face one or two batters in Oakland, working as a situational pitcher. He's capable of going a full inning but hasn't thrown more than 33 pitches in an outing this year.